The Ashes 2013: James Pattinson 'shattered' by injury that brought a premature end to his series

Updated
Thu 25 Jul 2013, 10:00 AM AEST

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Shattered: James Pattinson will remain with Australia for the third test before returning to Australia.

Ryan Pierse, Getty Images

James Pattinson has described the premature end to his Ashes campaign as "shattering" but insists he will take heart from his peers who have fought back from injury setbacks early in their careers.

The 23-year-old was ruled out for the rest of the tour with stress fractures in his lower back following Australia's second Test defeat at Lord's.

Pattinson suffered stress fractures as a teenager and last summer was ruled out with side strains.

The Victorian said that while he was not looking forward to more lonely recovery sessions in the MCG gym, he will remember the likes of James Anderson, Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee - who all fought back from injuries early in their career to dominate world cricket.

"It's pretty shattering, it's a hard road," he said.

"I've been told there's proof there's blokes who have played before me ... Lee, McGrath who have setbacks before 23 ... I live in hope that that's the way it goes.

"I'm a pretty positive type of guy so hopefully I can bounce back."

Body 'needs to mature'

Pattinson added that his body just was not up to handling back-to-back bowling efforts and that he is holding on to the hope that his body will mature enough to handle the demands of a five-Test series.

"When you go out doing what you do it's hard on the body and in an ideal world you'd like a bit more rest than that," Pattinson said.

"It's far from ideal. You go out there and put your body on the line and you're playing for your country.

"Once I get a bit more mature, I've said it 1000 times before but I'm still hoping one day my body is going to mature and I'll be able to do that back up not just for two Tests but five."

He will stay on with the squad until the end of the third Test at Manchester.

"It's a long journey to get to where we are and to go home is a bit of a kick in the arse," he said.

"So I'm going to stick around."

Team high performance manager Pat Howard said selectors were happy with the five quicks that are with the squad and there are no plans to add a replacement bowler unless more injuries occur.

Injury-prone veteran Ryan Harris has pulled up fine from the second Test.

Meanwhile, out-of-form opener Shane Watson will be rested from the three-day tour match against Sussex at Hove starting Friday.

Watson, who is averaging 27.25 for the Ashes series so far, will remain in London to work on his batting, in addition to undertaking fitness work.

Chris Rogers and Peter Siddle have also stayed behind in London and the trio will re-join the squad in Manchester next Monday ahead of the third Test beginning August 1.